A tangent

[t0m]

Hope you don't mind Uri - It's just this would be an interesting place
to have a discussion on this topic - Anthony from Addicted2Salsa
tweeted a week or so back about how the Game Kit - Game Center
possibilities that came with the improvements of the iOS updates -
could be used in his / an app.
Got me to thinking that the fundamental capabilities seem much more in
line with a game version of something like the SBM, than Pocket Salsa
- or at least somewhere orthogonal from where both are going. A Salsa
Beat Band if you will!

Some examples - the main elements of Game Kit are:

Authentication
Auto-matching
Invitations
Peer-to-peer Networking (Bluetooth and local wireless)
In game voice chat
Friends
Leaderboards
Achievements

One possibility i'm seeing from this, is what Alex Wilson may do - or
others - when you want to make an ad hoc salsa music teaching
experience - or even to have a go being a salsa band.

The above is basically just logistical help to create the experience.
From what I see - Pocket Salsa gives just a list of music sound files
to play one by one. SBM on the other hand lets you really use them to
create your own sound, music.

As a tool to teach musicality, or just looking into the rhythms of
salsa - it would seem having the possibility of a multiplayer
interface could be awesome. A big step up I know, and not necessarily
the direction that's wanted, or currently achievable.
One route - could the sounds of SBM be licensed as a pack for another
app also? To be able to use those instruments and rhythms in an app
that's already done the ground work to be an iPad Garageband style
app?

It would require converting what is effectively turning an instrument
on and off to having some actually play their beat when the screen is
tapped/shaken (think drums, clave, guajira, shaker, cowbell) (with
piano, bass maybe just being an on or off option, with option to
change rhythms being the main thing).

Any thoughts?

[Uri Shaked]

Hi Tom and all other members,

Good to hear back from you again!

Indeed, creating such a collaborative salsa music application could be challenging and give instructors a powerful tool to include in their tool-set, but we also need to think about the student perspective. Apart from being able to participate in a "cool" virtual ad-hoc salsa band, what extra value does this bring to dance students?
I mean, we could create some guitar-hero style tapping-game, where each player would tap another instrument (even bass and piano), but will this really help dancers to take their rhythmical skills to the next level?

I think the focus shouldn't be on the patterns themselves, rather on the structure of a song. i.e. have all the players anticipate the coming change in the song when it moves to a montuno section, and switch the patterns they play, things like that.

I think we should aim to the following:
- Game that will be fun to play and addictive
- Instructorless, so two friends can just meet and play any time
- Educational value for dancers - something that will really improve their rhythmical abilities.

Therefore, maybe the focus shouldn't be the instruments and their patterns directly, but in an indirect manner, just like when you dance - You have to coordinate your movements with the instruments, but not actually play them. To illustrate what I mean, you can even use a simple pac-man game, but the "bad guys" will move in sync to the musical patterns, and if you tap the corner of the screen during the 1st beat of a measure, you will get fruits appearing on the next measure...

Would love to hear your ideas and see how we actually roll this discussion into something feasible !

Uri